Japan's conciliation with the United States in climate change negotiations

This paper attempts to analyze Japan's conciliation with theUnited States regarding national targets on greenhouse gas emissionsin the multilateral climate change negotiations (1990–2001)for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changeand for the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention. Japan's conciliatoryproposals had nothing to do with bilateral pressure from theUnited States. Why, then, did Japan make special efforts toconciliate with the United States, and offer lenient proposals?I focus on three factors: concern for international status,the costs of the climate change regime and domestic politics.My main argument is that the Japanese Ministry of InternationalTrade and Industry used ‘conciliation’ with theUnited States in its favor as an excuse for making proposalsthat would emasculate the climate change regime and as a meansof receiving support from the United States for differentiationof national targets on greenhouse gas emissions.     

The provision of public services by government funded decentralized agencies

Public services are often provided by lower level agencies that are funded by higher level government. Since markets for such services do not exist, normal pressures to minimize costs do not operate; indeed, usually these costs are unobservable. We study a principal-agent model which emphasizes the distinction between the financing and provision of public services. Two broad situations are analyzed: (i) the agencies are induced to reveal true costs; and (ii) in addition, to minimize costs, agencies must be induced to exert effort. The characteristics of the optimal funding contract and the marginal cost of public funds are derived in each case.     

Molecular analysis of the human esterase D gene ESD(*)Q0(yonago) responsible for incompatibility in a Japanese paternity case

In a Japanese paternity test, an alleged father was excluded only by reverse homozygosity of esterase D (ESD) phenotypes (mother, ESD 1; child, ESD 1; alleged father, ESD 2) out of 43 classical and DNA markers investigated. To solve the aberrant inheritance of the ESD phenotypes observed between them, fragments for all eight coding exons amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were subjected to DNA analysis. The child and alleged father shared a null allele, originating from ESD(*)1. It was characterized by having TGA for the stop codon instead of TCA for serine at codon 63. Thus, the sharing of a rare null gene, ESD(*)Q0(yonago), increased the probability of paternity.     

Blood typing of blood stains on sweat stains by the iso-agglutinins detection method

When a blood typing is made for mixed stains of sweat and blood, erroneous results may be obtained. The reason is that the blood group substance in the sweat is detected at the same time as that in the blood. In this paper the typing of the blood stain on the sweat stain is carried out by the detection of isoagglutinins which may give additional information to the forensic serologist.     

Novel paternity testing by distinguishing parental alleles at a VNTR locus in the differentially methylated region upstream of the human H19 gene

Conventional PCR-based genotyping is useful for forensic testing but cannot be used to determine parental origins of alleles in DNA specimens. Here we describe a novel method of combined conventional genotyping and PIA typing (parentally imprinted allele typing) at a minisatellite region upstream from the H19 locus. The PIA typing uses two sets of primers and DNA digested with methylation-sensitive Hha I enzyme. The first amplification produces only the methylated fragment of paternal H19 allele, and the second detects polymorphism in the minisatellite. Hence, this distinguishes paternal and maternal alleles by difference in the DNA methylation. Furthermore, the polymorphism in this polymorphic locus was examined using 199 unrelated Japanese and 171 unrelated Germans, their polymorphism information content being 0.671 and 0.705, respectively. Feasibility of this typing is demonstrated for six families, and the usefulness is shown by application to paternity testing.     

Individual Identification of Racehorses from Urine Samples Using a 26‐Plex Single‐Nucleotide Polymorphism Assay

To construct a system for identifying individual horses from urine samples that are submitted for postracing doping tests, we developed a genotyping assay based on 26‐plex single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). DNA was isolated from urine using a commercially available DNA/RNA extraction kit, and SNP genotyping was achieved with a SNaPshot^? technique. DNA profiles including 26 SNPs were acquired from urine samples and blood/hair samples. Within the studied Thoroughbred population, the 26‐plex assay showed a probability of identity of 5.80 × 10^?11. Compared to the conventional short tandem repeat assay, the SNP assay used less DNA, and the rate of successful genotyping was improved to 97% using aliquots of horse urine as small as 140 μL. The urinary DNA could be successfully genotyped under proper storage concerning refrigeration or freeze–thawing. This SNP assay can be used for individual identification when suspicious results are obtained from horse doping tests.     

Population genetics of 17 Y-chromosomal STR loci in Japanese

Haplotypes and allele frequencies of 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR) markers were examined using the AmpFlSTR Yfiler PCR Amplification Kit (Applied Biosystems) in a population sample of 1166 Japanese male volunteers in 6 prefectures: Miyagi, Yamagata, Osaka, Tottori, Fukuoka, and Okinawa. A total of 1058 haplotypes were observed from 1166 males, and the most common haplotype detected in 12 males had a frequency of 1.03% and the discrimination capacity was 0.907. The R_ST analysis showed statistically significant differences between Okinawa and the other subpopulations.     

Sudden death due to undiagnosed intracranial hemangiopericytoma

A previously healthy 9-year-old Japanese boy with a 4-day history of vomiting and headache died suddenly and unexpectedly. An external examination revealed no abnormalities other than foam around the mouth and nose. An internal examination revealed severe pulmonary edema and hemorrhagic hemangiopericytoma arising from the choroid plexus of the right lateral ventricle. The cause of death was thought to be neurogenic pulmonary edema caused by the rapid growth of a hemangiopericytoma, with intratumoral hemorrhage.